


Waterlogged Glitches

by cosmic_ink



Series: fishy business [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dreamtale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Errortale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Error needs a break y’all, Hypnotism, I mean, Multi, Non-Consensual Kissing, Non-Consensual Touching, it might as well be XD, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:49:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25244935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_ink/pseuds/cosmic_ink
Summary: This happens before the events of Lilac WatersHere, we have Error’s side of that one bit from chapter 3
Relationships: Dream & Nightmare (Undertale), Sans/Sans (Undertale), mmmmmmaybe.....?
Series: fishy business [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1803904
Comments: 78
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Error’s horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad day.  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> Unless? :3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just crack ma dudes. Canon crack tho lmao

Error is fuming.

He is very mad. And very wet.

Why?

Well.

IT'S BECAUSE HE'S AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STARS DAMN OCEAN, THAT'S WHY!!!!

During a harried long battle with his inky counterpart, the destroyer had been close to winning, attempting to blast the tied up protector to smithereens with his blasters.

But whether it's by sheer dumb luck, or the forces of the multiverse wants to make this day particularly awful for Error, Ink manages to evade Error's attack, leaving nothing behind at the spot where the blast was aiming at.

The absence of victory then decides to literally rubbed itself all over Error's face in the form of glittered ink splashing onto the destroyer's facial features. _That fucking hurts!!!_

That brief moment of distraction on Error's end is exactly what Ink needs to pull the battle into his favor. And the next thing Error knows, is that he's being thrown into the fucking ocean.

God, he is so going to shove one up the rainbow bastard's colourful ass later, just you wait. The annoying squid fucking thought throwing glitter at his face was a good tactic to distract the destroyer.

Well.

It did actually work. But Error is not thinking about that, how such a trivial attempt actually succeeded in the squid's favor.

.....

Fuck it, he's so doing that right now.

It was fucking awful, and so stupid. The glitter even manages to get into his mouth, causing his multiple tongues to retch in glitchy hacks. Ink has taken this opportunity to swipe his brush at the glitching destroyer, bounding him up in the protector's namesake.

The sudden tightening from the strands of ink has Error letting out an undignified screech, making his glitching frazzled out in static outrage. Amidst his frenzy, Error hears the sound of a portal being opened, causing his mismatched eyelights to shrink in horror.

"INKY DON'T YOU FUCKING DA—"

And then he is promptly shoved into the resulting portal. The AUs guardian then disarms his giant brush, returning the tool to its place on its holster.

"Have fun swimming Ruru~"

.......

The change from stark white space to a face full of water is, in a lack of better sense, downright horrible. Ink's portal sends the bound up destroyer splashing into the sea, much like a cat being dropped into a sink filled with water for a bath. In this case, the cat is Error, and he's a cat that HATES baths.

It's disorientating, and hurts like a bitch. The freezing seawater made Error's form glitched terribly while the lines of code frantically flickered around him in response to the change in environment. To his horror, Error could feel his body slowly pulled asunder into a certain direction.

He is sinking!!! Fuck!

The destroyer renews his struggles in his binds with a dialed up cry, but his glitching made it difficult. Rubbing against the ropes of ink sends painful sparks up his form, he couldn't focus to call upon his magic with his arms tied and glitching gone haywire. What's worse, his sight began to worsen, rows of binary angrily blinding his vision. _Curses!_

Error must've been struggling for a while, because at one point he feels his body stop it's gradual descent, his back landing on a soft, squishy surface. He has reached the seabed.

"Stars damned RAINBOW BITCH!!!"

Wholly enraged by the current turn of events, Error lets out a string of curses, most of them being directed at a certain colorful artist. However, with him being underwater, those resulting profanities were comically muffled by the water. In their stead, bouts of bubble bursts come out with every curse instead, it’s effect to offend close to none existent.

Error personally swears to throttle the rainbow bastard's bones later.

The rows of glitching code frazzled angrily along with the destroyer's rage. It was ridiculous! Throwing him in a fucking ocean, really??! Fucking glitter manages to get the best of the destroyer??! Unbelievable! Sometimes the squid is just too creative for his own right.

Error's bound limbs writhe within their bonds, trying to loosen up the tight strands while he angrily rambled on. He thought about Ink's infuriating facade, how he has this indecipherable look in his ever changing eyelights when they fight, the rainbow freckles that follow the movement of his ingenious grin. It's like the protector KNOWS that he's being the most incessant little shit to Error's sanity. Oh ho ho YES, once Error gets his hands on the squid, he is going to—

A load up bar appears above his skull, slowly getting filled up. The destroyer has crashed.

And that brings us to where we are now. A bound up glitching skeleton angrily brooding at the bottom of the ocean, temporarily trapped in a random universe his counterpart just tossed him into, literally.

Calming down to a relative level, along with his sight gradually returning, Error tries to access his surroundings in his current predicament.

A long way above was the water's surface, a faraway beacon of light. If Error is to guess, he reckoned he might've sank a good 50 feet or so from the surface. Fantastic.

If only he could get his arms free, then he could latch onto a nearby stone reef and lasso his way up. But the water is still making his arms and leg glitch. The destroyer can't concentrate his magic to break the bonds when they are in this glitching state, it won't be strong enough.

Maybe he could try to sit up? Error's legs are tied up yes, but there's still a little leeway to his knees. He brought his knees together, curled them inwards and laid them on the side. Now, if he could just.....

With a huffed, Error tries to muster up the strength to turn over. One, two, and.....THREE! Yes!! Okay, not bad. With his curled up femurs below him, his body hunch over in a kneeling position, Error begins to work his bones into lifting his upper half upwards.

Error let out a groan laced with beeps, putting all his strength into the push. And....fuck yeah! He succeeds, landing with a soft plop on his rear. Great! Okay. Now, he just has to get these god awful ink off and then go kick Ink's ass.

Error scans his surroundings for something sharp to set himself free. He finds himself in the middle of a broad sea field, the sand bed littered with colonies of seagrass and coral growing on the multitudes of stones slabs along the way.

Perhaps he can find a coral with a sharper edge, and cut his binds open? It's worth a shot.

Mismatched orbits zeroed in on a sizable clump of coral to Error's right, about a lucky four feet or so away. Error's eyelights flicker in triumph. Onboard with his decision, the dark boned skeleton uses his legs to scoot over to the desired reef, one stretch at a time. The sand is going to be a hassle to clean off later.

He was so close, one more scoot should do it! But an airy brush behind his spine made him freeze with a bubble-filled shriek, halting him in the middle of his task.

 _The fuck is that?!_ Error turns over so fast that the movement creates a flurry of bubbles trailing along his skull.

The spot on his spine burned with the sudden unwanted touch, but the culprit was nowhere to be seen. Looking to the right, only shows a similar bare view of the open seabed from before. To the left turns out to be the same, no sight of the mysterious perpetrator.

 _I could've sworn....._ Error's sockets narrow in suspicion, glaring out into the waters for any sign for the culprit of the brief touch. No one was there. Nothing except the open blue in the distance, and oh, there's a crab skittering over there.

The destroyer doubts that the crustacean was responsible for the act. It felt like something soft brushed against him, something akin to strands of cloth? Like a bundle of soft ropes. No stray pieces of fabric here, nope!

Still, Error looks around himself one more time, but he remains stumped in his confusion. Once he's certain nothing was seemingly amiss around him, Error returns back to his previous mission. Cutting himself free. Shifting back to where he spotted the coral from before, he freezes.

The coral cluster is gone!?

In its place is a smaller sized slab of rock from when he first spotted the colony, as if a whole portion of the particular formation just shrunk. Is he facing the wrong direction? Looking around states that no, but even if he is, he bears no sight of the colony he's looking for.

Stars, is the water messing with his sanity now too? Not that it isn't messed up already, but still.

This doesn't bode well with Error, he has to get out of here. Forgetting the coral idea, he decides to summon his strings instead. But without his hands to pull them out, he brings his knees up to his skull and clamps his daffodils colored shins to hold onto the end of the conjured strands.

It takes some maneuvering, but Error manages to thread his strings under the closest layer of bindings on his legs. Closing his sockets, Error casts his strings to hum with magic, giving off a soft blue glow. He parts his jaw and bites onto one end of his strings, giving a hearty pull.

The ink bindings begin to melt under the grind of Error's strings. It's working! No time to waste now. Soon the layer of ink snapped apart, loosening his legs a tad, prompting Error to quickly repeat the process of threading under another layer of ink. Not long from now, he would b- _THERE IT IS AGAIN!!!_

Something brushes against his shoulder this time, and it makes him jolt a few inches in the water. Error immediately swung his skull around to catch the fucker, but to no avail, only the wide blue ocean meets his gaze.

 _Okay, no._ Something, or someone is definitely here. But where is it??!

The more rational side tells Error to get back to cutting his binds, before whatever it is gets him. With that, he can skedaddle the fuck out of here. But the thought of someone out there, watching him, messing with him?!? To hell with that, he wants to show the perpetrator a piece of his goddamn mind!

Error turns around, only to scream.

The bound up skeleton frantically scoots back in shock, away from the pair of violet orbits staring at him so close to his face. The swirling orbs of deep violets belong to a skeletal skull, another skeleton? However, this one seems to be without any clothes on their upper torso.

Backing up for a better, turns out to be not a good idea because the sand beneath him suddenly begins to shift, making him fall over on his side. The fall has his head spinning, error codes once again filling up his red sockets.

_What the fuck is going on??!_

And then, multiple touches start prodding everywhere against his body, too many at once. Error thinks he can hear a pair of voices frantically sputtering over his prone form, but he couldn't make them out in time before he once again finds himself going into another crash.

…………………….

"Oh my gosh did we kill them??!?!"

"I don't think so? Look! Those fuzzy things are still moving. Dead things don't move."

"We don't know that brother! They look weird, what if it's different for them?"

"Alright calm down, let's bring him to Hearts. This creature looks awful."

…………………….

The first thing Error does when he gets up is punching whatever it is that's in front of him away with a glitched yell. His fist apparently does collide with something, as a loud thrilling voice yelped in surprise.

Error quickly right himself up and backs away, trying to put as much distance possible between him and the presence he manages to land a hit onto. His multicoloured arms square up in a position to summon more strings, mismatched orbits sharpening in malice and h— Wait, he can move his arms??

Looking down confirms that yes, he is indeed free from the ink bindings from before. And his coat is gone. _Wait what, where'd it go??!_ His sweater top and shorts are thankfully still on, although they're soaking wet, the fabric slimily clinging to his bones.

Not only that, but the destroyer realises he's also above water, perching on a stone surface of some kind. He gets up and scooches over to the edge, looking down to the waves below. _What the heck...?_ How’d he get up here??

Error doesn't have much time to ponder further before he's getting pulled back down from behind by a firm tug.

He lets out a pain induced shriek at the action, struggling wildly against the foreign hold on his wrists as glitches came to swarm around his arms. His skull turns around amidst his struggling, trying to catch any sight of his captor's form.

But the destroyer doesn't expect to get an eye full of flashing gold in his sockets, the large pips of color swirling and spinning not two inches before his gaze.

He feels his struggling gently slow, movements turn sluggish as those vortex of purples seemingly has him entranced. It's as though a soft haze came and clouded his mind, slowly pulling him under. Faintly, he hears a crooning noise, lowly rumbling in his nonexistent ear, and feels his sockets drooped down in bliss.

Those golden orbits get closer, and closer. The last thing Error felt was a pair of lips softly meeting his own, and darkness envelops him once more.

…………………….

"—uggling and shouting and I didn't know what to do!"

Error awakens for the second time to hear a mixture of voices, more than one so it seems. Through his gaze riddled mind, he tries to make out the voice who has just spoken. Oddly, it has sounded....familiar somehow?

There's a series of worried clicks in response to the voice, and another one faintly humming in the background. "No I'm not...I'm okay brother, really! I'm just afraid he'll be mad."

Error feels a light pat at his cheekbone, the touch stirs him further to consciousness as he blinks open his sockets with a low groan. Unbeknownst to him, the previous chatter of noises quiets down at his voice, seemingly holding their breath as he slowly came to.

His vision was blurry, but he can make out a figure, a face? Looking down at him from above, are a pair of purple orbits gazing at him within two black voids. Who...?

For some reason, he hears a low growl of some kind, a steady rumble coming from somewhere nearby. Error blinks a few times to clear his vision, to see the figure more clearly. As the figure slowly fades into clarity, the destroyer felt his breath choke in his nonexistent throat.

_No.......not you! Anyone but you!_

Back home, Error tries everything in his power to stay away from the lust verses the best he could, as if his life depends on it. He avoids them like the plague, the very bane of his existence.

What were the creators thinking when they decided to bring such atrocious universes to life is inconceivable! It never fails to perplex him, the reason for such worlds to exist! Which further encourages his mission to see that all the alternate worlds must perish.

It's just his luck to be thrown into some lust variant universe, the very kind of worlds he's afraid of! Just thinking about it sends a shiver up his spine, of which he finds is once again lying down in a prone position.

The Lust sans seems perk up from seeing Error rousing from his unprecedented slumber, shifting out of view with a chirp, a splash sounding out shortly after. _W-wha....where is he going?_

With a worried grunt, Error hurriedly tries to get up, to get away from whatever this is and go the fuck back home to kick the protector's rainbow ass. But he couldn't move!

 _What.....what the fuck is this?!!_ His limbs are frozen by his sides, sitting slack like melted jello on a sauce plate. They feel numb and unresponsive, not heeding to the skeleton's call. His voice seemingly not existent at the moment, as if something sticky clogged up his words from slipping out between his teeth.

The only body part not affected by whatever this paralyzed state the rest of Error's body is put into is his skull, still being able to turn around under his command. Craning his skull up, he frantically tries to see where the lust sans went off to, not wanting that disgusting abomination to be out of his sight doing stars know what.

A loud growl sounds out away from him, and Error felt a presence emerging from behind his skull. He heard a heave of breath before a wet sounding splat landing right over his skull. The presence comes closer and looms over him, glaring down at him while their fangs scowl in silent contempt.

The destroyer's sockets widen in recognition, it's the skeleton that startled him before on the sea bed, the one with the swirling violet eyelights.

(There is something he couldn't quite place with this skeleton, a memory nicking at the back of his head.)

Has he seen this monster before?? But it can't be. Error's social circle isn’t very large per see, you can count the amount of people that he can barely tolerate on two hands. If it's someone he has the capacity to recognize to this extent, he should’ve known right?

Error can feel a throbbing headache coming right now, making him wince. _Stars, what is even happening anymore?_

The skeleton with violet orbits took this opportunity to lean down and lift Error up, grabbing for his shoulder and back. But something is off.

The touches, they don’t only consist of the hold from a pair of skeletal phalanges, which settled on lifting from his shoulder blades. Error feels multiple other things reaching for the bones of his arms and ribs. They twirl and prod at him, firmly and swiftly adjusting him in a sitting position.

Looking down, Error wishes he can scream, but a strained whine comes out instead. His rolling fear crossed between wanting to run away or clobber the monster manhandling him right now.

Tentacles, a multitude of tendrils colored a deep purple so close to black, are holding onto his arms. They go to adjust his legs next, positioning them in a cross legged position, with his hands delicately placed together in the middle. Error feels a shiver comes up his whole body, the error codes glitching in warning from the wave of touches.

 _Oh by the stars and creators'._ Out of all the wrenched universes, Ink decides to drop him off in a mermaid variant of a lust verse world? Man, what universe did he destroy to have pulled the artist's pants up in such a twist, to have him subjected to such an awful fate?

Thankfully, the octo mer backs off with a huff, sliding off the rock into the waters. They circle to the front before stopping, only allowing the view of their skull visible over the edge of the rock, lidded orbits glaring at Error with a growl.

"Please brother, I'm sure he didn't mean it!"

The multicolored skeleton glances up at the newcomer's voice, and he can't help but be taken aback. Popping up next to the seething octo mer, is a face Error hadn’t been counting on to see.

There, right there, is the face of the one and only positivity guardian himself, Dream!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, ppl are asking to hear Error’s side of the story, thus ask and ye shall receive UwU
> 
> Updates are gonna be pretty spontaneous, stick around if u wanna, cuz this is just for fun! XD


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations are had

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when the tags say this is crack? Yes, yes it applies to now more than ever

Golden eyelights peer worriedly between him and the other meroctopus, teeth pull back in an uneasy grin. "He was probably scared, and just...lashed out y'know?"

At the octi's placating statement, Error receives a wave of HURTBROTHER-MISTRUST-DANGER? lapping against his mental walls, making his head throb. The Dream lookalike turned towards the other mermonster.

"It wasn't that hard anyways..." He says in a softer voice. "I'm okay, truly!"

The other octo mer doesn't seem convinced at his twin’s reasoning, but he tuckered down with an irritated look on his face, invisible hackles mellowing out at his sibling's words. WARY-BROTHER-TOOKIND

.....

It didn't take long for Error to put two and two together, and he almost couldn't believe it. Now it hits him why this particular octo mer looks so familiar before.

First of all, the pair of octi carry the same faces, cheeks slightly round with pre-adolescent baby fat. There are very few beings in the multiverse that share a replica of that perpetual baby face, along with the set of those round darling eyelights to boot.

To the mass' knowledge, only one being in the multiverse carries that look, and that being is Dream.

However, it's lesser known but only one other creature shares the identical visage of the golden guardian, and that place could only fall onto the shoulders of the long forgotten prince of negativity, Dream's older brother.

These are a pair of the Apple siblings, a variant unmarred by their universe's canon events.

Well isn't that just _fantastic_? If he can talk, Error has a lot of things to say, and a lot of things he wants to do. He's torn between laughing hysterically and obliterating the guardians' lookalikes right then and there.

Error’s currently haze induced skull gives a painful throb as he tries to comprehend this.

A fishy Dream and Nightmare, and the latter's an uncorrupted one at that! _Ha! Wait till Nightmare hears about this, he'll lose his shit!_

Then again, he shouldn't be that surprise. The multiverse has proven how unprecedented it may be in bringing all these different worlds to life. What's another version of the apple twins going to compare to a whole shitload of alternate universes already there? It just makes his work harder dammit!

Next thing you'll know, there would be swap versions of the original Dreamtale siblings, along with some even edgier spinoff versions and so on. In the end, it doesn't matter, it'll just be another piece amidst this whole cluster fuck of a multiverse puzzle.

Glancing down, Error notices a thin puff of cloth plastered onto the golden one's cheek. Ah, so he's the one who received that punch from earlier. It explains why the Nightmare mer is currently sending the mental projection equivalent of a growling, crouched down predator, ready to strike at any given notice.

A negativity prince who cares and protects his sibling still, Error briefly muses, a rare sight indeed.

Error isn't going to back down though. If only he could summon his strings, and not being fucking paralysed right now, he would've ripped apart this pissed off cephalopod into nothing but pieces code, along with the two other onlookers in a heartbeat.

As a result, he settled for a thousand watt glare instead, expressing every last drop of anger and hatred to his captors.

It doesn't go unnoticed by the octo twins, as the golden one seems to shrink into himself, ducking down further over the edge while his twin returns Error's sentiment with a warning of his own, baring razor fangs and all.

At least....it would've worked if the other didn't have such a baby face for a skull. Error rasps out a breathy chuckle, amused by the little violet mer's attempt at intimidation.

"Pathetic.....rotten glitches...." The destroyer wheezes out in a strain, teeth pulled into a manic smile. A small miracle as it was, he feels that his voice is slowly returning.

“Just y-you wait....the second I'm free.....I'm gonna to....enjoy tearing you into pieces....bit by b—mpfff!!"

Something round gets unceremoniously shoved in between Error's jaws, cutting off the rest of his unspoken threat with a muffled yelp from the destroyer.

Turns out, while he's focusing on the two octopi, Error fails to notice the third member of the group shifting himself closer to the destroyer's side. A firm grip deftly pries open his mandible mid threat, and the lust sans mer proceeds to occupy Error's mouth space with a round squishy orb.

It's then closely followed up by a quick knock to his lower jaw, prompting him to bite onto whatever it is that got shoved between his teeth, earning himself a sizable bite of the foreign object into his mouth.

His eyelights flickered out in surprise, glitches flaring out at the sudden touch around his jaw. In shock, Error promptly spits out whatever he just took a bite out of his mouth.

Upon closer look, it appears to be a fruit of some kind, a rich orange in color. It tastes sickeningly sweet, with a slight tartness lingering on Error's tongues.

"The fuck....?" The dark boned destroyer turned to the lust sans in rage, what are they feeding him?!

The purple mer is regarding him with an exasperated look on his skull, akin to a weary parent trying to lecture a difficult child.

His purple rimmed sockets are squinting in consideration, and probably a tinge of anger too. He puffs out a haughty coo, then proceeds to do something strange.

The mermonster looks Error dead in the eye with slitted purple orbits, and took a deliberate bite of the amber fruit he held in his hand. He then starts to chew while not once breaking eye contact, the sounds of teeth crushing fruit meets Error's nonexistent ears. _What in the-_

It happens so fast.

Error doesn't even have the time to turn away before finding himself an eyeful of the mermonster in his face, teeth meeting his own in a heated kiss.

He nearly chokes from the other's prodding tongue entangling with his, tasting a mouthful of sweetness with the fruity pulp invading his senses. All he could do is let out a muffled keen, helpless to the onslaught.

The mermonster continues to advance further, and Error feels a finger teasing the beginnings of his lumbar. The sensation causes him to instinctively swallow, gulping down the mouthful of chewed up mush in his mouth.

Only then does the damned merskeleton parted the kiss, leaving Error panting with his skull flushed a heady blue. The other has a bewildered look on his face, a thin string of drool dribbling down his rose colored teeth.

The lust sans mer looked back towards the twins, Error couldn't see his face to know that the mermonster's slitted pupils have morphed into cute little hearts, bobbing excitedly in his sockets.

"My word, this land walker has more than one tongue can you believe it??!"

The other's exclamation makes Error let out an outraged beep, sockets briefly filled with error codes. The octopi twins give varying degrees of perplexity in response to the taller mer's cry.

The Dream octopi however has acquired a dusting of gold on his maxilla while his sibling seems more intrigued than furious now.

What. The absolute. Fuck.

"You filthy, disgusting abominations!!!" Error says in a glitched up swear, garnering the three's full attention.

“How dare you! I have you know, I'll personally MAKE YOUR DEATHS LONG AND PAINFUL, for what you've FUCKING DONE TO ME you freAKS!"

His outburst makes the lust sans mer leaned back with a grimace, the twins flinching away in shock. Error's hand came to wipe at his teeth and he—oh, OH he can move now! Now's his chance!

Error quickly raises a multicolored hand to his sockets, preparing to pull out a surplus of magic, but finds that he couldn't. He tries again, only to grab away at air once more.

Tear stained sockets widened in confusion, what the hell?? The dark boned destroyer tries summoning his bones next, his blasters, anything, but none of the constructs materialize at his command.

"Do you think....we should tell him about his magic?"

Error's frantic eyelights flicks over to the golden octo mer, the latter looking worriedly at the lust sans' way as he spoke.

"Mmm...yes, it wouldn't come back for quite a while now doesn't it?"

"What do you mean it wouldn't be back for a while?!" Error screeched at the purple mer's direction.

The destroyer quickly gets up and takes a few small steps to the back, keeping all three mermonster's in his peripheral.

"What did you do to my magic you filthy abominations?!!!" Error yells as he points an accusing phalange at the three.

"A-Abominations....?!" The purple mermonster sputtered at the destroyer's curses, looking indignant at the remark. It's quickly replaced with shock however, as his eyelights dilate in wonder.

"You can...understand me...?"

It makes Error back off a little bit on his tirade, but he keeps his stance vigilant in case if any of the merskeletons try anything. "Yeah...? What does that have to do with this?"

“Well, normally walkers couldn’t understand merspeak. This is very interesting…”

"Don't say that Dusk!" That came from the Dream meroctopus. "He’s already as mad as it is!"

Error looks towards the two twins, seeing them in the middle of bickering among themselves, the violet twin responding to his brother with a series of clicked noises instead of words.

"Oi, don't think I've forgotten about you little shits! What happened to my magic!!? What the fuck did you do?!"

The golden octo mer lets out a squeak, having startled to find the land skeleton turned his attention to him. To his credit, the former doesn't shy away this time, his wavering golden pips meet Error's gaze the best he could, brows dipping in guilt.

"U-um, the thing is....you might not be able to use your magic for a while." He slowly says. "When I kiss you, my venom takes away a creature's magic for a period of time, making it easier to catch feisty prey. It's only temporary, I swear!"

"You what?!" Error yelled back.

He doesn't know which news is more shocking. The fact that this pathetic glitch somehow manages to put a restraint on his magic, or that he's already gotten kissed twice in the company of these wretched glitches.

"I'm very sorry!" The golden mer quickly apologizes, his humeri shrugging up in shame. "I didn't want you wandering off when you first awakened. You could've gotten hurt!"

"You lot are _insane_!" The frazzled destroyer backs up some more, getting dangerously close to the edge.

"How dare you! I swear, if I have my strings, I'll have all of you freaks torn apart the second my magic returns. And then, I'll destroy your world's code, wiping it off from the face of the void until there's nothing left of your pathetic excuse of a uni—AAH!!"

There’s a chorus of frantic shouts, and a flurry of movement.

It seems Error ran out of stone to step on, nearly plunging into the waters if it wasn't for the Nightmare octo to slither over and catch him. Having regained his senses over his limbs, Error instantly feels the pain prickling against his ebony bones at the touches, writhing in disgust.

"Don't FUCKING touch me you oversized sushi roll!"

WALKERCLUMSY-ANNOYING-UNTHANKFUL

The tentacles deposit him once again in the centre of the slab, a pile of angry glitching bones. The dark boned destroyer quickly gets up again, phalanges clenched into tight fists. The violet twin regards him with a tight look.

WHYANGRY-TRYINGHELP-STUPID-RATHERDROWN?

"Use your words dammit you're giving me a headache!!"

The violet meroctopus scrunches up his brows in annoyance(and confusion?), before deciding to move back to his brother's side. The golden twin nuzzles the former's skull in comfort upon his return, making the violet mer puffed up grumpily with a flush.

"Now now, there's no need for us to get up into each other's throats, darlings." The taller mer cajoled by Error's left.

"Look, I can see that you're confused, and angry." He says as he directs his tired gaze towards Error, before turning to the twins. "But if we all could just sit down and explain to one other without wanting to gorge each other's sockets out every second, that would be swell.” 

“What do you say, dear land walker?”

A tense silence follows afterwards.

…..

.....

"Fine." The destroyer answers while the twin octo-mers give clicks of agreement of their own.

With that, Error takes a few steps back, mindful of the edge this time, and begrudgingly sits down. He honestly has nowhere to go, magic stowed away from his grasp and unable to return home, he might as well bite the bullet and see where this goes.

He can always destroy this verse afterwards.

* * *

Error keeps his part of his story as brief as he can, barely skimming over the inner workings of the multiverse theory.

From the looks of it, it seems that this world is still pretty new, with its residents remaining in the dark of the multiverse's ongoings outside of their world. It also implies they have yet to be exposed to multiversal traveling from outcodes such as him.

Which sucks, because Error couldn't be sure if he has any chance of hitching a ride through a portal from any visiting sans or outcodes.

Hence for the meantime, Error decides to oh so graciously explain the reason and events that lead him onto this abrupt visit to the merskeletons’ world. If it means getting the three off his back faster.

To start, the destroyer explains that he's a traveler of sorts, one that has the ability to traverse from one world to another in a short amount of time.

Sometimes, the world he travels to can be similar like this one, and you might see a few familiar faces (Error threw a wary glance over to Hearts' way at this) in every new world you seek. Each time he comes to a world, it's because he has a job to take care of. And after completing said duty, he'll either go home or move on to the next world.

Frankly, it's quite funny to watch his audience wracked their skulls trying to comprehend the bizarre concept he's trying to portray. And he leaves it at that, there's no need to divulge further if not needed be.

They don't have to know that their world is a mistake and never should've existed in the first place. It lowers their guard for when the time comes for, y'know?

Along the way, Error finds himself gradually loosening himself up as he spun tales and stories of his travels.

He explains that an associate of his decides to make his day harder, and got themselves into a brawl as a result ~~totally not because he started it~~ before he could leave. His opponent cheated, and promptly tossed his bound up self into the waters of this random universe.

The lust sans mer, Hearts, giggles knowingly as Error relays his reason for his sudden appearance.

"That's amazing!"

The golden octo mer, whose name Error recently learned as Dawn, has stars in his sockets as he leans forward on the rock. "You're like a wizard! Or a witch! I didn't know land dwellers could do that."

Although he tries to hide it, Dawn's sibling, Dusk, has also gotten invested in Error's exposition of where he came from, and why he is here.

The violet cephalopod lays his skull on his hands as he listens, orbits looking at Error's way with interest he tries to mask his intrigue with aloofness towards the latter.

From the twins, Error learns he caught the pair's attention during his descent into the ocean floor.

The two were in the middle of playing sea tag, and just generally exploring the place for cool knick knacks and baubles to bring home.

They however, were not expecting to find a bound up land walker sinking to the depths.

The twins had observed from a distance, waiting to see what the new creature would do. It was a good idea that they did, because not a few ticks later their subject of interest started cursing up a storm right there on the ocean's floor.

It was a spectacle to behold, Dawn commented, much to his twins quiet snickering at the back.

After a while, the subject of their interests suddenly stopped yelling, making the twins perked up from their hiding spot. They spotted this weird projection hovering above the weird creature's form as the land monster laid there unmoving, seemingly frozen in the middle of their ranting tirade.

Dawn and Dusk took this opportunity to have a closer look.

It was so bizarre, they deduced, taking in the form of this creature's arrival. Stark ebony bones were rare among merskeletons, and they had never seen a mermonster’s form such as this creature’s. 

The two warily poked at his bones (Error shivers just thinking about it), lightly pulling at the weird substances binding his arms to his body.

A peculiar sound however cut their inspection short. Looking up, they saw the weird hovering object flickered a few times before disappearing, watching in horror as the land walker began to stir.

In a span of a few seconds, the twin octopi hastily camouflaged themselves into the surroundings, just in time before Error dials up from his reboot.

And about the brushes Error previously felt on his spine? That was Dawn's doings. Turns out, he had unknowingly shifted himself right over onto the yellow twin's hiding spot, which happened to be right under the sandy seabed.

The golden octo mer nearly jolted up in surprise, trying to keep his voice down from giving himself away to the skeleton shifting on top of his tentacles. But a few stray brushes from his tentacles were inevitable as was the case.

The coral Error saw earlier? That was Dusk. The octo mer had watched in muted terror as the land walker blindly moved to where his brother was hiding, not realizing he was seated right on top of his twin's twitching tendrils.

The second Error looked away, Dusk had slithered out from his camouflage and went over to another end to come up with a plan.

It was a rushed one, he admitted, but he decided to face the strange visitor head on. The land walker was tied up anyways, he just needed to distract his attention long enough for his brother to escape. He had the element of surprise on his hand, it would work!

Apparently, it worked too well.

As Dusk’s orbits met Error's, things escalated too quickly from there. Dusk and his brother didn't expect the land walker to instantly revert back to the strange frozen state as before. An odd reaction indeed, Dawn thought he was dead for a second there!

What took place next was simple. The twins gathered up the frozen pile of bones the best they could and brought them over to someone they know, seeking aid. That someone being Hearts (in which he introduced himself with a saucy wink), who was a known medic who happens to reside nearby.

The pair left Error on a slab of stone near Hearts' dwelling, with Dusk parting off to bring the medic over while his twin stayed and kept watch.

Error could probably guess what happens next. He woke up, punched a fish, got paralyzed, and got kissed twice. Creators, what is even happening anymore.

"We are truly sorry for scaring you!" Dawn apologizes with a teary note. His brother utters a low croon in tow, probably as a half hearted apology just for the sake of it.

"And as too I." added Hearts. "That fruit was supposed to counter the effects of an octo-mer's venom. I apologize for resulting in such crude manners for having you consume it."

LOOKS-ENJOYEDDOING-HEARTS

"Brother!"

"Anywho!" The purple mer brushed off Dusk's comment with a flourish. "Meroctopuses' victims usually get their magic back in a couple of days or so. What do you plan to do next, Error dear?"

"Don't call me that!" The dark boned destroyer snaps back, sockets narrowing in thought.

The glitch has a point. Without his magic, Error couldn't portal himself out of this universe. So while he waits for his magic reserves to come back, he needs a place to stay for the time being.

"Oh! We know a place for you to stay." Dawn happily pipes up, eager to offer help to their visitor. "There's a cove up west we could take you, it's where Dusk and I store all the cool the stuff we found in the ocean. You can stay there until you can get home."

The golden mer misses the way his twin bristled at his words, not entirely happy to be sharing the location of their personal stowaway.

And Error too, but for an entirely different reason. "Hell no! There's no way you're grabbing me again with your limbs."

"I don't quite understand...." Hearts pondered aloud. "Why does physical contact scare you so?"

Error crosses his arms over his chest, avoiding the medic's gaze with a scowl. "It just does.... You got a problem with that?"

"No no, none of the sort." A hand poises itself against Heart's mandible. "Then again, it does makes sense. You do seem to be constantly averting yourself from someone's presences.

"Oh yeah? I wonder what gave it away." 

You should know that Error is comically seated a good five feet from either merskeletons present on the stone.

"But that means..." Dawn's eyelights shrink in realization, ducking his skull in shame. "We're very sorry!"

"Canned it you filthy glitch!" Error is starting to get sick of the apologies. "Just keep those limbs away from me, got it?"

"Understood."

"Ahem….Dawn darling, perhaps there's another way to transport our land walker friend here to yours and Dusk's cove? Like, with a vessels of sorts, perhaps?”

Dusk makes a loud click at this, his answer led his twin to regard him with bright orbits.

"Great idea brother! We can use that!" The golden merskeleton turns his attention over to Error next, gaze determined.

"Dusk suggests for us to use one of our many shipwrecked boats! That way, you can hop on board while we push you to shore without having to touch your bones, Error."

"Wonderful! Then that's settled." Hearts conclude with a clap of his hands. "Go on and get your equipment sweethearts, I'll keep our land dweller here good company."

"Yes sir!" Dawn says with the enthusiasm of a praised puppy. "C'mon brother, we can go clean the place up for our guest along the way."

Hearing an affirmed trill from the darker twin, the two meroctupuses unlatched themselves from their perches and dive with a splash, onwards to bring back Error a boat.

And that which leaves.... Error alone. With Hearts.

.....

…..

A moment passes before Hearts breaks the silence, the merskeleton jaw’s parting in a yawn before speaking.

"Needless to say, I sure hope you get along well with the little fledglings."

Seems like bland ignorance isn't an option.

Resigning to his fate, Error looked at the mermonster in the corner of his socket. The lust sans is idly resting with his skull lolled in the cup of his palm, sockets calmly looking away into the rolling waves beyond.

"They can put up a nasty fight if they so wish, should any creature come near to harm either brother." Hearts says as he flicks a cyan claw at some hidden grime between his bones. "I figured I should let you know that.

The medic looked up when the skeleton scoffed in reply. "I'm stripped of my magic and weapons. Do I look like a threat in any way?"

“So it appears.” Hearts gives a light chuckle at that. "You might be a lot of things Error, I just don't think a mere traveller is one of them."

"At least, not with that amount of LV you're not. Your stats do not lie, sweets.”

_Fucking bastard went ahead and CHECKED me!_

Probably when he was out cold, Error deduces. It doesn’t make him any less offended though. How does the filthy glitch manages to engage Error in a full on stare off with a honey sweet grin on is beyond him.

"It's okay if you don't tell me. We can keep our secrets. But know this, should anything happen to them during your stay,” Hearts is looking at him now, orbits smouldering with a calculative stare boring into Error’s own. 

“The whole school would come hunting for your soul, skeleton of the lands. Heed that dearly.”

If anyone were to ask him in future, Error would refuse admit that those purple slits could've ever made his soul shuddered in fear at the moment. And he would deny the fact that he subtly scooted himself away from the purple mer’s proximity right after.

Hearts takes his fuming silence as an answer nonetheless, tail giving a languid splash in the water. 

“Do play nice! It’s been a while since the twins found a companion to play with besides themselves. Not to mention, it gets lonely for younger merfolk during mating season.”

The WHAT?!

“Walker Error, we have returned!”  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmmm I was a bit lost when writing this, but I pushed thru ngahhhhhh >:D
> 
> Anywho, I got some activities planned out for the three, but if y’all have any suggestions to what Error and the twins should get up to during his stay, do comment!  
> It rlly fuels the writing spirit 
> 
> All in all, thanks for reading!


End file.
